Dissident Veteran For Peace: Anniversary of the Death of Tom Hurndall

Dissident Veteran For Peace

"I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America." —Alexis de Tocquevile. Democracy in America, Book I, Chapter XV.

With a nod to the Most Rev. Dom Helder Camara: When I support Palestinians some call me an 'anti-Semite', when I try to explain why I stand in solidarity with Palestinians they call me a Nazi.

"WAR is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives." —Major General Smedley Butler, USMC (ret.)

"... no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end." —character of O'Brien in 1984, part 3, ch. 3 by George Orwell.

"Every prophet has realized that nobody loves you for being the enemy of their illusions. Every prophet has realized that most of us want peace at any price as long as the peace is ours and somebody else pays the price. That is why the prophet Jeremiah said, ' "Peace, peace," they say, when there is no peace,' ..." —The Rev. William Sloane Coffin. "Not to Bring Peace, But a Sword."

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Anniversary of the Death of Tom Hurndall

Tom Hurndall died on this date in 2004, nine months after being shot in the head by an Israeli sniper. As If Americans Knew notes:

Tom was a student and photographer who traveled to Gaza in 2003. On April 11, he watched as children playing nearby suddenly came under Israeli rifle fire. Most of the children fled, but three of them, aged four to seven, froze with fear. Tom rushed one to safety. When he returned for two little girls, an Israeli sniper shot him in the head. Despite the urgency, Israeli officials delayed his transport to specialized medical care for over two and a half hours. Tom remained in a vegetative state until his death 9 months later.

Since Hurndall's killer, Taysir Hayb, was not a Jew but an Israeli Bedouin he was actually held accountable for the killing—sort of. Hayb was released from prison after serving just five years.

Labels: crime, Israel, Palestine